It was a project; a project that had been assigned much to Eli's surprise, because he swore each time he stepped into Degrassi Community School, he would be attending a high school. Needless to say, the project seemed childish and unamusing, which in turn caused him to wait until the day before it was due to actually start it.
So when Eli arrived home that afternoon, he asked his parents where he could find family photographs. They did not hound him for a reason, as he thought they would, but instead told him there were boxes upon boxes of photo albums upstairs in the attic, so he trotted up there and set his backpack down before scouring through every large brown box labeled 'photos.'
The project seemed simple, really: write an essay about your family history and add a few photos here and there. It was nearing the end of Eli's senior year, and quite frankly he was not happy when the assignment outline had been passed around. But as he looked through numerous photo albums, he found amusement in the smallest of things. He had to admit that his mother and father's choice of style was still not up to par, but in the eighty's they were far from better.
It was then that Eli stumbled upon a small album dedicated to a person named Skylar. Her name was printed in black by a person with the neatest cursive the boy's green eyes had ever seen. He stared at it for a while, contemplating if he actually wanted to see what this cover was hiding, but chose to open it slowly, now faced with the first photograph.
A tiny baby with her small hands balled up by her cheeks, wailing with her eyes glued shut. This baby looked so fragile to Eli, and he guessed this was Skylar herself. She was beautiful with her porcelain skin and button nose, which oddly resembled his mother's—but he ignored that fact as he turned to the next photo.
An older man holding the same baby, though she is calm now and most likely fast asleep in his arms. The male has an undeniably fascinated look about him, as if he cannot believe he is holding this baby; that she is there in his presence, alive and breathing. This brings a smile to Eli while he turns the page to find a strikingly similar photograph, though this time with a female.
It is what Eli finds next that makes his heart flutter in his chest. Another man holding this baby, one that looked completely different from the first, but a lot like his father. He is grinning to the camera, cheeks red and forehead shining, but he looks happy. He looks completely joyful with his wide smile and tear stained cheeks as he holds this baby wrapped in pink. Eli is afraid of what he will find next but continues on anyway.
Now staring him right in the face is his mother; he is sure of it. Her blonde hair tied back tightly, cheeks the same red as the male he swore was his father. She looks overjoyed as she stares into the camera, lying in a hospital bed connected to a number of wires Eli lost track of. She was holding the same baby close to her chest protectively, and yet he did not understand why. Eli had no sister, no half-sister, no sort of relative even once or twice removed that he did not know about.
And by this time Eli has seen all he could handle for one day and shuts the album, the same name in black in his sight once again. As he reaches to place it in the box, he finds himself unable to let it go. He sits there for however long he chooses to, just looking at the name printed in black and reading it as many times as he can. Skylar. Skylar. He racks his brain for a woman named Skylar but his memory serves him no justice. Skylar. Who on earth is Skylar?
This question haunts him into the very next day, the small album practically burning a hole in his backpack as he frantically searches for Clare in the halls of Degrassi. He spots her at her locker, pushing past underclassmen to reach his girlfriend who turns to him during this commotion, smiling but obviously worried by his eagerness.
"Good morning to you too, Eli." she responds with a smile, though no reaction of the same sort comes to Eli. "What's the matter?"
"I want to show you something," he spits out fast, already in his backpack before his sentence is through. He pulls out the album and places it in Clare's waiting hands, to which she is puzzled by and looks to Eli for answers. "Open it." he states, and she does.
"Oh, how sweet!" Clare says while cooing at the baby. "Who is this?"
"I asked myself the same question." Clare turns puzzled again.
"You don't know who this is?" she asks, flipping past a few pictures before her eyes go wide. "That's your mother, isn't it?"
"Yeah, I thought that, too." he answers, coming to stand next to her so he too can look at the photo. "But it can't be her."
"Where did you find this?"
"Upstairs in my attic. I needed photos for that stupid project."
"Well, that has to be your mother." Clare is certain of this, and it is evident to Eli by the tone of her voice. "Why else would your parents have kept it?"
"I have no idea…" he trails off, really taking to heart what Clare is saying. She does have a point, but Eli still finds himself not fully sold on the idea.
"And she gave birth to that baby." Clare adds, and Eli's eyes all but pop out of the sockets. "She's lying in a hospital bed connected to an IV. Come on, Eli, connect the dots." she hands him the album and is slightly startled when the bell rings. "I have to go."
"Just promise you'll help me."
"Help you with what?" Eli takes one last look at the album before averting his eyes to Clare's blues.
"Help me find out who she is." and Clare is skeptical at first, unsure if even she wants to know the answers to this kind of question. But then it dawns on here that this is something hard hitting—almost like a story she could write about for a paper. It's every journalists dream to be asked to help on a job like this, and she always has a hard time telling Eli no, especially when he looks so dead set on the idea of finding this girl.
"Fine, I will help." she smiles, and he does too, before they share a small kiss and Clare is on her way, leaving Eli to stand in a deserted hallways alone asking himself the same question yet again.
Who on earth is Skylar?
A/N: Hello, dear person reading this. All I can say is that this idea has haunted me for some time now, and I have finally found the time to put it into words and here it is, so of course feedback would be lovely! Thanks for reading! xx